Difference between revisions of "ADDING a Snapshot via Pull Operation - OnePager Express for Version 7.0"

Revision as of 21:43, 30 December 2020

Overview

The purpose of these articles is to acquaint you with the new pull features of OnePager Pro (OPP) and Express (OPX). There are eight (8) articles in this series, four (4) providing examples of the pull feature for OPP and four (4) for OPX. Please see the links at the end of this article to access other articles in the series.

What is a Pull Operation?

A Pull operation starts in the Chart Editor. That is, you already have OnePager running and decide to update the open chart or (rarely) create a new chart. In contrast, a Push operation begins in the OnePager Pro Start from which you make a new chart or update an existing chart. We added the Pull operation because we found that OnePager users were often creating a chart, finding something in the source plan that they needed to change. Following the change they ae going back to the source plan, making the change, and then re-launching OnePager to update the chart. The Pull operation lets you open a chart and update it repeatedly as you edit its source plan. After each set of changes to the source plan(s), you can quickly see the effect on the screen by using the OnePager Data ribbon tool bar tab to Pull the source plan changes into the chart.

For more information on Creating a new chart with the Pull operation, please see the article at: Creating a NEW Chart via Pull Operation - OnePager Express 7.13.2-70.

For more information on Replacing a snapshot with the Pull operation, please see the article at: REPLACING a Snapshot via Pull Operation - OnePager Express 7.14.2-70.

The example below illustrates adding a snapshot.

Example

Let’s suppose you have a Microsoft Excel source plan with an already created a snapshot for a particular date, say, 8/14/2019. Later on in the project, say on 8/30/2019 you receive updated status information that updates your Microsoft Excel source plan accordingly. You now want to add this latest status information to your chart as an additional snapshot for 8/30/2019 to reflect the new status information. Further, let’s suppose that there are two (2) different charts created form this one Microsoft Excel source plan:

1) One for the PMO audience created with the Show It1 field and

2) The second created for the customer audience created with the Show It2 field.

In this example, we’ll do the addition for the PMO audience first and then do the same addition for the customer audience. Since the Microsoft Excel source plan was updated and now reflects the latest status information for 8/30/2019 we just need to use the Pull operation to bring in the updated Microsoft Excel source plan data and add the snapshot.

Launching OnePager Express from Microsoft Excel

First, update the Microsoft Excel source plan with the updated data you want to add in a new snapshot. Launch OPX from Microsoft Excel and when the OnePager Express Start form appears click the OPEN button which, in our example, provides a dropdown menu with the name of the chart you wish to update by adding a new snapshot. In this case it’s BlueGrass Project Plan Plan Report - Express -PMO as shown below:

The OPX Add-in application places the selected chart up in the Chart Editor window. This is the chart that has one snapshot currently for 8/14/2019 for which we want to add a second snapshot for 8/30/2019. To proceed with the snapshot add click the Data tab on the ribbon and prepare to click the Add Snapshot button. The Chart Editor looks like this:

Use the Microsoft Excel Source Plan to Add a Snapshot

To add a snapshot, click the Add Snapshot button on the Data tab of the ribbon. A calendar dropdown appears. Select the date of the new snapshot in the calendar and click OK in the calendar drop down as shown below:

OPX adds the snapshot by loading the Microsoft Excel source plan associated with the chart and uses it to add a new snapshot as shown above. The added snapshot for chart BlueGrass Project Plan Report - Excel -PMO is shown below:

For a chart with multiple snapshots it is important to make sure that you have selected the correct snapshot to display in the Chart Editor window before clicking the Replace Snapshot button. OnePager knows which snapshot is being displayed and replaces the visible snapshot with data from the parent Microsoft Excel source plan. Navigating between snapshots in a multiple snapshot chart can be done prior to the above action by using the View tab on the ribbon as shown here:

Since we are using the OPX Add-in application for this example, it was not necessary to re-launch Microsoft Excel. As long as you’ve properly prepared your Microsoft Excel source plan that is all that is necessary to utilize the new Pull operation for adding a snapshot. At this point it is recommended that you save this the chart for access later.

Preparing a Second Chart for Adding a Snapshot

There are two (2) ways of updating the second chart from the same Microsoft Excel source plan:

1) After saving the first chart, close the OPX Add-in application and repeat the above process by opening the second chart and then using Show It2 to select the tasks.

2) Remain in the current OnePager Express Add-in application window and update the second chart from there.

Here we demonstrates the second method as it is more efficient. With the above chart visible in the Chart Editor window, click on the File tab on the ribbon and then click the Open… tab on the page that appears. Then click the chart for the customer audience as shown below:

When you click the desired chart name as shown above, OnePager displays that chart in a separate Chart Editor window as shown here:

You can expand this Chart Editor window. Now, navigate to the OnePager Data ribbon tool bar tab as shown below:

Click the Add Snapshot button on the OnePager Data tool bar tab and select the new snapshot date from the dropdown calendar as shown previously. This tells OPX to go to the Microsoft Excel plan's source plan for this chart (previously updated with the 8/30/2019 status information), perform the snapshot addition under the control of the Show It2 field of the plan, and display the results in the current Chart Editor window. The added snapshot is shown below:

In this example, we used the Pull operation twice to update two charts from the same Microsoft Excel source plan but using different Flag fields. Now that the second chart is created, we recommend that it too be saved for future access.

Compare Results, Edit, Copy to PowerPoint

Once you are satisfied with your charts you can save them, copy them into Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, or share time in other ways. At the end of the ADD Snapshot process described in this article, your projects contains multiple snapshots. You can move from one to another in the Chart Editor window by going to the View tab on the ribbon and either click the Forward/Back buttons to switch from snapshot to snapshot or use the List All button to display snapshot dates associated with the chart as shown below:

The Pull operation is an easy, fast, and convenient way to create multiple charts which makes you more efficient.

Related Links

Creating a NEW Chart via Pull Operation - OnePager Pro 7.13.1-70

Creating a NEW Chart via Pull Operation - OnePager Express 7.13.2-70

REPLACING a Snapshot via Pull Operation - OnePager Pro 7.14.1-70

REPLACING a Snapshot via Pull Operation - OnePager Express 7.14.2-70

ADDING a Snapshot via Pull Operation - OnePager Pro 7.15.1-70

Custom Update (Replacing) of a Snapshot via Pull Operation - OnePager Pro 7.16.1-70

Custom Update (Replacing) of a Snapshot via Pull Operation - OnePager Express 7.16.2-70

Using the OnePager "Data" Tab's "Selected file(s)" Button 7.17.1-70

(7.15.2-70